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Discovery of Higgs Boson, or “God Particle,” Could Unlock Mystery of Matter

Discovery of Higgs Boson, or “God Particle,” Could Unlock Mystery of Matter

The Higgs boson is a famous subatomic particle first theorized to exist back in the mid-1960s. It's a key part of mathematics that could explain a fundamental mystery: why things have mass. Earlier this month, experimentalists reported on the observation of a new particle seen in proton experiments at CERN in Switzerland. This new particle is very likely to be the long sought after Higgs boson.

The latest experiment from Switzerland at the Large Hadron Collider has been causing atomic particles to collide at tremendous energies and then sifting through the debris trying to find Higgs particles. Scientists involved in this research have said they are now seeing encouraging results.

UMD Physicist Drew Baden is a researcher who has been involved in the confirmation process of this important scientific study and discovery.

Baden compares this work to Columbus sailing west. Researchers are expecting to make this discovery, just as Columbus was expecting to would find the ocean’s opposite shore. Instead he found a new continent. Baden says, “It really looks good – people are starting to be convinced that maybe this is the new world we’re seeing.”